Madeleine McCann investigator fleeced Kate and Gerry fund out of £300k by hiring useless private detectives and lying about high-tech equipment, Netflix doc reveals

A WALTER Mitty fraudster fleeced the Find Madeleine McCann fund out of £300,000 after lying about his high-tech spy equipment and "CIA contacts", a Netflix documentary claims.

Dodgy "detective" Kevin Halligen - who falsely claimed to be an ex-MI6 spook - was hired by the McCanns after their daughter went missing in 2007.

The Surrey-based Irishman promised his "A Team" of ex-FBI and special forces investigators would track her down using satellite technology - which turned out to be only printouts from Google Earth.

An appeal fund backed by public donations paid Halligen's firm Oakley International £500,000 plus huge expenses over five months.

His "crack surveillance teams" led by decorated former Manchester undercover cop Henri Exton began quizzing witnesses on the ground in Portugal and identifying possible suspects.

They produced e-fits of a suspect which are still in circulation today - but also wasted time tailing a completely innocent man, according to the Netflix series.

Another documentary in 2014 documentary called The Conman And The McCanns claimed Halligen's firm had used a child as "bait" for Maddie's kidnapper.

Oakley International were said to have hired a couple with a young daughter who looked like Maddie to walk around Praia da Luz – where Madeleine vanished aged three in 2007.

FAKED HIS OWN WEDDING

After just five months the contract was terminated after Gerry McCann began to question how the money was being spent.

And it emerged Oakley had failed to follow up on dozens of calls to a tips hotline.

Halligen was forced to deny blowing a large chunk of the money on luxury hotels, flights and the high life.

He went into hiding with a string of debts, including a reported £100,000 to Exton who had paid his investigators from his own pocket because he believed they were making real progress.

The following year Halligen was indicted in the US for a £1.2million fraud in an unrelated case.

He had been on the run for months when The Sun tracked him down to a hotel in 2009 - and he whined “How did you find me?” as cops handcuffed him.

He was later extradited and handed over to the FBI - but continued to deny fleecing the McCann fund.

Former pals said Halligen had tricked his way into the top reaches of Washington society by posing as an ex-intelligence agent.

He often stayed in five-star hotels and paid a chauffeur £4,000-a-month to drive him around.

He even faked his own wedding, hiring an actor to perform the sham ceremony after lying to fiancee Maria Dybczak, a US lawyer, that they could not wed in a normal way because of his past in undercover operations.

Last year he was found dead from a brain haemorrhage at his mansion in Surrey.

Oakley was one of four firms of private eyes hired by the McCann fund up to 2011, when the Met police took up the investigation.

Kate and Gerry are waiting to hear if the Home Office will grant a further £150,000 to keep Scotland Yard's £12m Operation Grange search going for another 12 months.

We pay for your stories! Do you have a story for The Sun Online news team? Email us at tips@the-sun.co.uk or call 0207 782 4368 . We pay for videos too. Click here to upload yours.